A dead body lies in on a bed outside the hospital in the Abu Salim district, in Tripoli, Libya, Friday, Aug. 26, 2011. The four-story hospital was completely empty with shattered glass over the floors, dark with dried blood stains and with medical equipment strewn about. In the hospital yard next to the parking lot is a pile of 20 decomposing bodies, all of them darker skinned than most Libyans, covered with blankets. Gadhafi had recruited fighters from sub-Saharan Africa.(AP Photo/Francois Mori)— AP

A dead body lies in on a bed outside the hospital in the Abu Salim district, in Tripoli, Libya, Friday, Aug. 26, 2011. The four-story hospital was completely empty with shattered glass over the floors, dark with dried blood stains and with medical equipment strewn about. In the hospital yard next to the parking lot is a pile of 20 decomposing bodies, all of them darker skinned than most Libyans, covered with blankets. Gadhafi had recruited fighters from sub-Saharan Africa.(AP Photo/Francois Mori)
/ AP

Libyan women holding the old flag of Libya chant slogans to support the rebellion in the Green square after the Friday muslim prayer in Tripoli, Libya, Friday, Aug. 26, 2011. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)— AP

TRIPOLI 
British warplanes struck a large bunker Friday in Moammar Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte, his largest remaining stronghold, as NATO turned its attention to loyalist forces trying to hold back advancing Libyan rebels in the area.

The airstrikes came a day after fierce clashes erupted in the Libyan capital, which remained tense as rebels hunted for the elusive leader and his allies, detaining suspected loyalists and raising concerns about human rights violations.

Rebels were searching Friday for the remnants of pro-Gadhafi forces in Tripoli's Abu Salim neighborhood, which saw very heavy fighting the day before. The rebels had detained seven men and one woman and loaded them into a pickup truck in a rural area between Abu Salim and the airport, saying Gadhafi forces might be trying to blend in with civilians.

"Things are still not stable and we are arresting anybody we find suspicious and taking them to the military council," said field commander Fathi Shneibi.

Meanwhile, at a clinic attached to an Abu Salim fire station, injured men believed to be Gadhafi supporters or fighters were left moaning and calling for water. Curious neighborhood men climbed the stairs to look at them, but none offered help.

One of the wounded said he was from Niger and denied any links to Gadhafi. Asked why he was in Libya, he said, "I really don't know." He did not give his name.

Signs also emerged that the situation can turn far worse.

Dozens of decomposing bodies were piled up in an abandoned Abu Salim hospital, a grim testament to the chaos roiling the capital. It was not clear when the men had been killed. The floors were covered with shattered glass and bloodstains, and medical equipment was strewn about.

One room had 21 bodies lying on gurneys, with 20 more in a courtyard next to the parking lot - all of them darker skinned than most Libyans. Gadhafi had recruited fighters from sub-Saharan Africa, but many others from the region are in Libya as migrant workers.

It was not clear who had killed the men, but since the uprising began the rebels often suspect sub-Saharan Africans of being mercenaries.

A spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross, Steven Anderson, said the neutral aid group was concerned about the treatment of detainees on both sides in Tripoli. He declined to discuss specific examples, though, saying any findings are discussed confidentially with those involved.

The Geneva-based ICRC has been able to visit some prisoners on both sides, said Anderson, but "there are hundreds more probably."

Tripoli, meanwhile, enjoyed the quietest day yet since the rebel takeover, though pro-Gadhafi forces were shelling the airport and sporadic shooting was reported elsewhere in the metropolis of 2 million people.

At the first Friday prayers since Tripoli fell to the rebels, hundreds of people crowded a mosque in central Tripoli, listening as the imam praised the rebels for taking up arms against Gadhafi. He said they had "liberated the land inch by inch, house by house, alley by alley," using a famous phrase from a Gadhafi speech against the uprising.